This is part 3 of a series. Please make sure to read the previous two posts:
Part 1
In my last post, we looked at what the Christian response should be to refugees. However, our country’s policies are only as Christian as its citizens. Our refugee policies may not be based on the Biblical mandate we as Christians have towards refugees. In this post I want to look at the role of government and what our government’s responsibility is towards refugees as a separate topic from our Christian responsibility towards refugees. I believe that much of the debate on this topic comes from one side arguing that as Christians we should help refugees while the other side argues from a different perspective.
What is the purpose of government? This is a very controversial issue. At their simplest, governments protect people from conflict and provide law and order. This seems to be the most straightforward purpose for government. Governments also tend to have responsibility over the economy, public services, and social programs. The extent to which a government is responsible for these things is controversial and ultimately outside the scope of this article, although where an individual lands on these topics will influence their opinion on the details of a refugee policy. I am more interested in the most fundamental purpose for a government. Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.” The preamble to the Constitution states that the purpose of the United States’ government is “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
So it appears that the purpose the founding fathers had in mind for our government was to secure the fundamental human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and to unite the people, carry out justice, ensure domestic peace, provide defense, promote welfare, and secure liberty.
The next question becomes who is the government responsible for? Only its own citizens or all people? Romans 13:4 states that the government is a servant for our good. In the Old Testament, we see that kings were held responsible for whether Israel followed the law. The law included treatment of foreigners. So, in the Old Testament, government was responsible for the protection of foreigners living in Israel. In fact, as we saw in my last post, the law made very little distinction between Israelites and foreigners living in Israel. Our government has taken a similar stance. Since the founding of this country, we have accepted immigrants who were fleeing persecution in their home countries. Although they were not originally citizens, America took them in to protect their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. More recently, in the 1960’s, the Supreme Court established the concept of strict scrutiny which means that the government cannot treat someone differently based on their place of birth unless such treatment would preserve life or the state’s existence. In other words it is allowed if a person is a potential threat to people. This combined with laws detailing what to do with asylum seekers and refugees shows that historically, our government has taken responsibility for protecting the rights of those who are facing government persecution. The way it appears we have historically operated is that a government is responsible for protecting the rights of their citizens. The American government is not responsible for the rights of British citizens, the British government is. However, sometimes a government refuses to protect the rights of its citizens, or even violates those rights. In that case, it becomes the responsibility of the rest of the world to protect the basic human rights of those citizens.
There are so many factors which go into the role of our government. Which factors a person emphasizes will determine what he thinks our government should do about refugees. If someone believes our government is only responsible for its citizens instead of all people, then they will be inclined to avoid helping refugees. Some people see refugees as security threats and emphasize the government's role in ensuring domestic tranquility and the common defense. In this case, they would say a government's primary role is to protect its citizens and it is not the role of government to help the needy. So refugees are a security risk and should not be helped. However, if someone sees our government as being responsible for protecting the fundamental human rights of all people, then the responsibility of the government to establish Justice, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity would involve being a place of refuge for those who are facing persecution.
To conclude, the role of government is complex and there are many different facets to it. Your position on refugees will probably be driven by both which facet you emphasize and whether the government is responsible for the fundamental rights of non-citizens being persecuted by their own countries. Historically, our government has accepted that responsibility. Keep in mind that there is not an absolute answer to the question of the role of government. If this is at the root of your disagreement about the refugee situation, then you should not single out refugees but rather shift the discourse to the role of government. There are also some assumptions which can affect someone’s opinion on the government’s responsibility towards refugees, namely, if refugees are a security risk or not. I am going to write about this in a future post. In my next post though, I am planning on discussing the various ways someone can enter America. The refugee program is just one of many. We will look at the differences between them and let that inform the next post about security risks.
